Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz
Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz (or simply, Wicked) is a musical produced by Universal Studios with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, based on Gregory Maguire's first novel of The Wicked Years series, ''Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'','' published in 1995. It opened on Broadway on October 30, 2003, and is the highest-grossing musical to date. The original Broadway production eventually spawned productions in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Stuttgarbourne, San Francisco, Sydney, Oberhasen, and Osaka, as well as two North American tours that have visited over 30 cities. The musical is based on Gregory Maguire's bestselling 1995 novel, ''Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and serves as a prologue to Lyman Frank Baum's 1900 classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (as well as its movie equivalent, MGM's 1939 The Wizard of Oz). It explains what happened before Dorothy Gale arrived in the Land of Oz. The musical version of Wicked highlights the journey of two unlikely friends, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch of the North), as they struggle with opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love interest, reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace. Wicked was produced by Universal Studios, in coalition with producers Marc Platt and David Stone; the production was directed by Joe Mantello, choreographed by Wayne Cilentro, and costumed by Susan Hilferty. Originally premiering in San Francisco's Curran Theatre on May 28, 2003, the production opened on Broadway on October 30 of the same year in Manhattan's Gershwin theater. It originally featured Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, and Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero. At the 2004 Tony Awards, the Broadway production was nominated for 10 awards, eventually winning three. It was also nominated for the Drama Desk awards, gathering eleven nominations and winning three; the West End production later also received 5 Laurence Olivier Awards. According to Broadway.com, Wicked shifts from being the first- or second-most-grossing show in New York and is first in the West End, as well as being the 10th longest running Broadway show. Wicked has had 25 previews and 4544 shows as of September 28, 2014. Wicked has made a total of $868,505,846. A film adaptation of Wicked has been in talks since 2004 though producers have been waiting for a dip in the stage musical's earnings. Since 2012, Universal Studios were reported to produce the film with Stephen Daldry and Winnie Holzman, who wrote the musical's book, to pen the screenplay. in December 2012, Marc Platt announced that the film would "soon" be entering development stages, and following the success of Les Miserables (2012), it was expected to happen sooner rather then later. Original Broadway Cast [[Elphaba/Musical|'Elphaba']], The Wicked Witch of the West: Idina Menzel [[Glinda/Musical|'Glinda']], The Good Witch of the North: Kristin Chenoweth [[Fiyero Tiggular/Musical|'Fiyero']], The Scarecrow: Norbert Leo Butz The Wizard of Oz: Joel Grey [[Madame Morrible/Musical|'Madame Morrible']]: Carole Shelley [[Nessarose/Musical|'Nessarose']], The Wicked Witch of the East: Michelle Federer [[Boq/Musical|'Boq']], The Tin Woodman: Christopher FitzGerald [[Doctor Dillamond/Musical|'Doctor Dillamond']]: William Youmans [[Chistery/Musical|'Chistery']]: Manuel Herrera [[Witch's Father/Musical|'Witch's Father']]: Sean Mcourt [[Witch's Mother/Musical|'Witch's Mother']]: Cristy Candler Midwife: Jan Neuberger Songs DOS-TealCarolandKendra.jpg|Dear Old Shiz WizardAndI.jpg|The Wizard and I breath mint.jpg|What Is This Feeling? Stephanie and Toby.jpg|Something Bad tumblr_kol3nvVCdS1qzm97no1_500.jpg|Dancing Through Life ElphabaNewGlindaPopular.jpg|Popular macie-dodd-elphaba-wicked.jpg|Defying Gravity I-m-Not-That-Girl-wicked-3014035-432-324.jpg|I'm Not That Girl 08-1WickedLA438ret.jpg|One Short Day 4071a.jpg|A Sentimental Man Act I #No One Mourns the Wicked – Glinda, Witch's Father, Witch's Mother, Lover, Midwife and Citizens #Dear Old Shiz – Glinda and Students #The Wizard and I – Madame Morrible and Elphaba #What is this Feeling? – Glinda, Elphaba and Students #Something Bad – Doctor Dillamond and Elphaba #Dancing through Life – Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, Nessarose, Elphaba, and Students #Popular – Glinda #I'm Not that Girl – Elphaba #One Short Day – Elphaba, Glinda and Denizens of the Emerald City #A Sentimental Man – The Wizard #Defying Gravity – Elphaba, Glinda, Guards and Citizens 02.jpg|No One Mourns the Wicked (Reprise) ThankGoodness.jpg|Thank Goodness NessaBoq.jpg|The Wicked Witch of the East 0.jpg|Wonderful 25306_107513819289871_106881819353071_50881_8123167_n.jpg|As Long As You're Mine Mandygonzalezelphie.jpg|No Good Deed WitchHunters.jpg|March of the Witch Hunters Wicked Glinda and Elphaba.JPG|For Good Act II #No One Mourns the Wicked (reprise) / Thank Goodness – Glinda, Madame Morrible and Citizens #The Wicked Witch of the East – Nessarose, Elphaba, and Boq #Wonderful – The Wizard and Elphaba #I'm Not That Girl (reprise) – Glinda #As Long as You're Mine – Elphaba and Fiyero #No Good Deed – Elphaba #March of the Witch Hunters – Boq (Tin Man) and Citizens #For Good – Elphaba and Glinda #Finale – Company Awards Broadway Production: The National Tours: The Chicago production: The London Production The Melbourne Production Trivia *Wicked uses 250 pounds of dry ice per show on Broadway and they probably use 200 pounds per show on the road. *The electrics department uses enough power to supply approximately twelve houses. Including the sound and automation departments, the total would increase to eighteen houses. *Wicked uses 3-5 miles of cable in the electrics department on Broadway and they'll probably use 4-5 miles of cable on the road. *100,000 feet of steel cable have been used to restring the flying monkey wings during year one of the Broadway run. *The carpentry department on Broadway has about 175,000 pounds of scenery and they use about five miles of cable to automate it. *The dragon's eyes are red LED bulbs that never burn out. *The dragon's wingspan is the same as Cessna 172. *The dragon is named Ozwald. *The play is advertised under the tagline "So much happened before Dorothy dropped in." *Elphaba's green makeup is actually eyeliner, put on using oversized brushes. Praise "Best musical of the decade." Entertainment Weekly "The defining musical of the decade." New York Times "A cultural phenomenon." Variety Wicked in Popular Culture The extraordinary success of Wicked has made several of the show's songs popular and has resulted in references to the show, characters, and songs in popular culture. Wicked on Broadway and in international productions has been featured or parodied on televison shows such as Brothers and Sisters, The War at Home, Ugly Betty, The Simpsons, South Park, and was continously featured on Glee. '' The Dutch cast of Wicked appeared in an episode of the daily soap ''Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden. In this episode, Elphaba (Willemijn Verkaik), Glinda, Madame Morrible, Fiyero and The Wizard appear in a dream of GTST character Lucas Sanders (played by Ferry Doedens, alternate Fiyero). The episode aired on June 29th, 2012. The Broadway musical, Shrek the Musical parodies the show's Act I finale with "What's Up, Duloc?"; character Lord Farquaad re-enacts "Defying Gravity" by shouting "No one's gonna bring me down" followed by the infamous belt of Elphaba's while atop his castle. Category:Productions